Martin Harper is the RSPB’s conservation director. He said: ‘We’re pleased the minister has listened to people’s concerns and acted in the public interest by cancelling this project. This is a strong decision, reflecting the strength of the nation’s desire to see Government protecting precious wildlife.

‘The recovery of the buzzard is being celebrated by the public after many decades of persecution. It is clear they don’t want their taxes being spent on removing buzzards and the Government has to ensure that no bird of prey will be killed in the name of sport.

‘We don’t want anything to distract Defra from the pressing task of saving our threatened wildlife. It should be putting its limited resources into areas such as preventing the extinction of hen harriers in England.

‘Government-backed research has already concluded that illegal persecution is limiting the populations of golden eagle and hen harrier. The RSPB believes there are well-tried non-lethal solutions to reducing impacts of buzzards at pheasant pens.’

Mark Avery: When Tory shooters call the shots. It was a revelation to discover Mr Cameron’s closeness to the shooting community: here.

David Cameron‘s promise to lead the greenest government ever continued to collapse on Monday as leaked documents exposed British officials’ attempts to undermine European Union energy rules and researchers criticised his “mixed messages”: here.